Charles Barrington (mountaineer)

For other people named Charles Barrington, see Charles Barrington (disambiguation).

Charles Barrington (1834-20 April, 1901) an Irishman from Fassaroe, Bray County Wicklow was a merchant with little or no mountaineering experience who is famous for his first ascent of the Eiger on 11 August 1858.^[1][2] Heinrich Harrer, in his book about the Eiger north face – The White Spider (1959) – noted that Barrington would have attempted the first ascent of the Matterhorn instead, but he did not have enough money to travel to Zermatt. With the support of two mountain guides, Christian Almer and Peter Bohren, he reached the summit of the Eiger via the west flank.^[3]

After the ascent, Charles Barrington returned to Ireland and never visited the Alps again.^[2] He owned and trained a famous racehorse, "Sir Robert Peel", that won the first Irish Grand National in 1870.^[2]

Barrington organized the first Irish mountain race in 1870, offering a gold watch to the winner of this running event.^[4]

References

1. ^ "Charles Barrington". Bray Town Council. 2011 [last update]. http://braytowncouncil.ie/pages/charles-barrington.php. Retrieved 2011-04-02. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Charles Barrington 150th Anniversary: The Eiger Ascent". Bray Town Council. 2011 [last update]. http://braytowncouncil.ie/media/documents/Barrington%20leaflet.pdf. Retrieved 2011-04-02. 
3. ^ Harrer, Heirich (1998) [1959]. The White Spider: The Classic Account of the Ascent of the Eiger. J.P. Tarcher/Putnam. pp. 15–17. ISBN 0874779405. 
4. ^ Charles Barrington Memorial Race. Irish Mountain Running Association. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.

External links

• Charles Barrington's letter to his brother detailing his Eiger ascent from the 1884 Alpine Journal

Persondata
Name	Barrington, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1834
Place of birth	1834
Date of death	1902-04-20
Place of death